More information : NY 76369039) Peel (GT) (1)
The tower or bastle at Shilla Hill, in poor condition, measures
externally 48'0" x 24'0". The walls are four feet thick except the
west wall which is eight feet thick and probably contained a mural stair. The walls are of rubble with large quoins. The doorway is in the east end. The bastle is surrounded by the ruins of a complex series of enclosures, some of stone, and some of earth and stone, and generally curvilinear in plan, while at its east end are the better built remains of what was probably a later farmhouse. (2)
A typical Tudor strong house. (3)
Remains of a building upon the top of Shilla Hill, at approx 680 feet above O.D. The ground measurements are 14.4m E-W,
7.0m N-S and the walls, of large unhewn stones with shaped boulders at the corners, are 1.4m thick. The entrance in the E end is 0.6m wide, has an arched roof over a lintel stone and has bar holes in the side stones. The N and E walls stand to a height of 2.0m, the W wall stands to 1.5m, and the S wall to 0.3m. No evidence of access to an upper storey, or of vaulting. The ruin is overgrown, and a tree growing on the wall in the NE corner threatens to demolish this part.
The site commands the valley of the Tarset Burn to the NW, NE, and SE, and a wide stretch of gently rising open moorland to the S, W and NW, and stands within newly-afforested lands belonging to the Forestry Commission. Similar remains in the region have been dated to the 16/,17c.
Foundations of a steading to the immediate east of the Pele are too fragmentary to date, but the walls do not appear to have been of any great thickness or age. The enclosures surrounding the Pele, referred to by Authy 2 lie in afforested ground and could not be located. (4)
Condition unchanged. Apart from the steadings to the east, which appear to be recent there are no traces of the surrounding enclosures, which have probably been destroyed by deep furrow
ploughing within the afforestation. Published survey (25") revised. (5)
NY 763903 Remains of bastle. (See Type-site: NY 88 SE 14) (6)
The remains of a bastle mainly as described in reports of 31 7 56 and 28 7 70. Condition unchanged.
Surveyed at 1:10 000. (7)
NY 7636 9038. Shilla Hill bastle, 350m W of Comb. Scheduled RSM No 25079. (8)
Shilla Hill bastle (NY 7636 9038) was surveyed by the RCHME (level 3) in May 1997 at 1:500 scale. The remains consist of a ruined bastle where only the lower courses of the stone walls remain. Earthworks of two additional buildings lie immediately to the E and NE, and there are also fainter traces of surrounding earthworks that once formed the banks of at least four enclosures.
The situation of the site is essentially as described by the previous field authorities, except that the site and the surrounding area has been clear felled. The bastle is principally as described by Authy 4 except that the relieving arch above the doorway has fallen down, probably due to the roots of the tree on the NE corner. No evidence was found for stairs and the thicker nature of the W wall is thought to be rubble only. It is possible that there was another wider entrance in the middle of the S wall as there is a gap 1.9m wide here; if so it is likely to be a later insertion.
There are well-preserved earthworks of two buildings immediately to the E and NE of the bastle on a similar alignment to the main building. They appear to be later additions as they partially obstruct access to the E entrance. The more southern building has walls that are parallel to the bastle. It consists of two rooms with an entrance on the S wall of the E room, the internal dimensions of which are 4m x 2m. The W side is not discernable but the building was probably separate from the bastle rather than abutting it. The banks vary between 1.3m - 3m in width.
To the N, almost abutting and on a slightly different alignment, is
another building measuring 6.4m x 3.8m internally. The banks are 3.5m wide, 0.4m high in most places, reaching a maximum height of 0.9m in the NE corner. There is an entrance in the N bank, 1.9m wide, and possibly another opposite in the S bank.
The survey managed to locate the banks of the surrounding enclosures referred to by Authy 2. These can be seen on air photographs, along with evidence of ridge and furrow outside (9a).
There are four enclosures, probably for holding stock. The smallest is a semi-circular bank 2.2m wide and 0.3 high, extending from the SW and SE corners of the bastle. There are three larger conjoined rectilinear enclosures to the W, N and NE covering a total area of c.70m x 40m. They survive as poor to fairly well-preserved stony banks, 0.4m - 0.7m high and 2.2m - 3.8m wide.
The earliest reference to the name Shilla Hill is 1749. It may have originally been called Starheyd (1552), Starr Head (1583), Stairhead (1663) and Starry Head (Late C17). In 1552 Starheyd is mentioned in the order of the day-watch for North Tynedale (9b). In 1583 Starr Head was one of a number of sites attacked by the Armstrongs (9c). In 1663 Stairhead was described as a 'messuage containing arable land, meadow and pasture 18 acres and sufficient common of pasture, held by the Hunter family (9d). Land tax of 14s was paid on Shilla Hill by Mrs Barbary Hall in 1749 (9e).
Shilly Hill is marked on Armstrong's map of 1769. There is no
mention of Shilla Hill in the Tithe commutations of West Tarset (9f), although it appears on a map signed by the Tithe Commissioners of 1841 (9g). It is shown on the OS 1st Edition map of 1866 (9h).
Shilla Hill is one of the sites on the 'Reiver's Trail' which includes a number of the better preserved bastles; a stone built information point has been erected at the side of the footpath. (9)
Listed by Cathcart King and by Dodds. (10) |